Poli is an internet banking method you are likely to have heard of; such is its presence in the online casino world.

Most popular amongst NZs and New Zealanders, Poli is an internet banking service which does not require credit card details to be handed over to a casino.

Poli (which stands for Pay Online) is one of the many payment providers which acts as a go-between, namely between your bank and the online casino you wish to play at.

It launched in 2006 as part of the New Zealand Post. Since then, it has expanded, and since 2014, Poli has won several awards for its services.

To use Poli, you need to ensure that you have an account at one of the financial institutions and banks affiliated with the payment provider.

These can be found on Poli’s website. You will also need to download the Poli app, either to your Windows or macOS computer. Ultimately, the process is quite simple and safe.

To complete a Poli transfer, players select it as their payment method. They are then required to sign-in using their bank ID. Poli will automatically take care of the rest and process the transfer.

Because you are using Poli, rather than a direct electronic bank transfer, you do not have to dish out your bank card details to the casino.

This offers security. Moreover, it is widely available at many top internet casino sites. There are a few drawbacks, though.

For starters, Poli is only affiliated with NZ and New Zealand banks, which means that for players who have banks outside of those nations, Poli is effectively off the table as a deposit method.

There may also be fees involved.

There are no transaction fees associated with depositing at an online casino through Poli. Moreover, the time it takes to process your deposit is near enough instantaneous.

It is a different story for Poli withdrawals, though.

Not all casinos process Poli withdrawals. If you find one which does, you will need to create a profile with Poli (on their website), so that they can verify your identity.

This KYC process will enable you to cash out your winnings. However, there are fees applied to Poli withdrawals.

These consist of a $0.30 transaction fee, as well as a fixed surcharge costing 0.9% of the value of the transaction.

There are plenty of other payment providers which offer a near-identical service to Poli. In Europe (in particular, Scandinavia), Trustly is the method of choice.

Canadians can use Interac in a similar way. Most of these deposit methods all work identically and are linked to banks and licensed financial institutions in their respective countries and markets.

Poli is safer than depositing or withdrawing with a credit card or debit card. However, at times, it can be as costly as those options and is arguably a slower method than using an e-wallet to play at casinos.